RPM- Spirit of Death
by SoaringEagle11
Summary: A rampage by Tenaya causes a spiral of trouble and misfortune for Gemma. Caught in it all is Gem and Summer, who become the center of deception, Flynn, who is shaken by the truth about Scott, and Vasquez, who faces the alarming knowledge that Gemma's fate may become her own.


This is a story that starts with the initial basics of the Dome Dolls. In other words, it starts when the guys are asleep and Summer and Gemma go to fight Tenaya. I cried so much when I was writing this and I think you'll cry a LOT when reading it. If you are sensitive to any kind of violence, please refrain from reading this story. And please review when you are done reading it because I would like to know if everyone liked it. But, as the old saying goes, "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." The ships here are Summer/Dillon, Flynn/Gemma, a bit of Dillon/Gemma and Summer/Gemma sprinkled in and there might be some Summer/Vasquez and Dillon/Vasquez and there's a short moment of Ziggy/Vasquez in there; I'm not certain if those two before the last one become ships or not, but I hope it's okay. This story is also very sad, so if I were you, I would keep a pack of tissues near you while reading this just in case. Enjoy!

RPM- Spirit of Death

"Attack!" Tenaya-7 shouted to the Grinders. They rushed forward toward Summer and Gemma. Summer went to meet them with a flurry of punches and kicks, sending three of them flying. But Gemma stayed where she was. Frozen with fear, she couldn't move. But then, Tenaya ran into the fight and threw Summer to the ground.

"GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU EVIL ROBOT!" Gemma screeched. She raced forward and kicked Tenaya away from her friend.

But Tenaya didn't seem bothered. As Summer got to her feet, Tenaya and Gemma faced off. Gemma threw another kick at Tenaya, but she dodged it and shot her opponent with an energy ray, sending Gemma sprawling. But Gemma wasn't finished. Though her energy was diminished, she would still fight. However, the next time Gemma ran at Tenaya, Tenaya grabbed her by the neck and held her up. Gemma screamed for her to let go, but Tenaya refused. She grabbed her neck with her other hand too and dug her sharp nails in as she twisted her head to the side.

"NO!" Summer gasped. Tenaya laughed and Gemma's pitiful cries were cut off as a loud _crack_ split the air. "GEMMA!"

Tenaya dropped Gemma's body to the hard pavement as she looked at Summer. "You will never see her again."

 ** _At Dr. K's lab…_**

"Dr. K!" the dark-haired scientist heard a monitor call to her. It was Summer. "You need to hear this!"

Dr. K looked at the other screen. There, she could see Summer's face. It was usually bright and happy, but now, it was gloomy and sad. Tears were running from Summer's sweet, blue eyes.

"What is it, Summer?" she asked. "I'm trying to create an antidote here."

"Gemma's dead!" Summer burst out.

"What?" Dr. K's eyes widened. "She can't be! She must still be alive!" She looked at the screen. The antidote was ready.

"Would you still be alive if you have your neck snapped?" Summer retorted.

Dr. K's eyes became ablaze as she grabbed the antidote from the case and sprayed each of the guys with it. Then she handed Scott the Road-Attack Zord's wheel. "Find out the truth about Gemma," she ordered coldly. Gem looked afraid for a moment and Flynn and Scott looked uncertain, but finally ran out the door along with the others.

 ** _Back at the battle…_**

"No!" Summer wailed as she crawled over to Gemma and gathered here body into her arms. Her friend's eyes were open, but glazed with death. Blood dripped from her mouth and from other nasty wounds on her neck. Summer cried bitterly as she rested Gemma's head on her chest.

"Summer! Gemma!" Summer gasped as she heard Gem's voice behind her. Instinctively, she curved her body over Gemma's and turned her head slowly to look back.

Gem and the other Rangers and surprisingly, Dr. K, were racing down the street. Summer tightened her grip on Gemma as they reached her.

"Summer, what happened?" Flynn cried as he knelt down beside her. Summer turned away. When Gem came around in front of her, she whimpered and pressed Gemma harder against her, trying to find the last bit of warmth in her friend's body as she closed her eyes.

"G-G-Gemma?!" Gem stuttered in disbelief. "What-no-my sister…" He swallowed. "Wh-what happened?"

"Tenaya," Summer whispered without opening her eyes. When she felt Gem trying to take his sister from her, she shook her head blindly and stroked Gemma's hair. Then she heard the others whispering.

"She won't let me take her." Gem. "She won't let go."

Then Dr. K approached.

"She's… really… dead..." Dr. K gasped. "Even Tenaya was never so cruel…" She crouched down beside Summer and stretched her arm out to lay a hand on Gemma's limp form. Again, Summer pulled away. Dr. K gave an exasperated sigh as she spoke softly to Summer.

"Summer, please let us say goodbye."

"What good will that do?" Summer spat as she passed Gemma's body to Gem, then collapsed. Dillon rushed forward and quickly caught her as she fell.

Gem sank to his knees as he gently held his sister's lifeless body in his hands.

 _I can't believe it. We've been through so much, Gemma. Why did you have to die?_

He looked down at her and her glazed eyes stared back at him. He couldn't take it anymore. He stood back up and quickly passed his sister's body into the waiting arms of Flynn. Flynn and Gemma had been very close when Gemma had been alive. They even had started to become more than friends. _And Tenaya went and took her from me,_ Flynn thought. _She'll_ _ **never**_ _become human again._ He reached out and carefully closed Gemma's eyes. It hurt him so much to see her like this and from the dismayed looks of the others, it hurt them just as much. It had been Gemma who was the heart of the Rangers, not Flynn.

"She's gone," Dillon murmured as Summer leaned into him. "This… can't be happening." He had known that the robots were capable of mass destruction, but had never thought they could do this type of damage. He looked down at himself. If the virus took over, would he become just like them? A vile creature bent on destroying humankind? A _murderer_?

Ziggy and Scott didn't know what to do. Neither of them had ever had any close relationship to Gemma and Scott had even detested her when she first joined the team. In private, he had practically raged over her when he had the chance. But he had never wanted her to die. Now, he was filled with guilt for all the times he had criticized her and yelled at her and not been an actual leader. He reached out to take the dead girl from Flynn. Flynn shook his head quickly.

"Why?" Scott questioned, clenching his fist together.

"You know what you did to her when she was alive!" Flynn snapped at him. "There were many, many times when she would come to my room at night crying and wailing that you had hurt her and wounded her so much after every fight that she could hardly move. Heck, it even took her a half hour to get down to my room. And it was right next to ours!"

Scott glared at Flynn. "If you had seen how she fought, you would have understood!"

"No!" Flynn growled. "She was the best fighter and friend you could ever imagine! You were just jealous that she and I started hanging out together! And now you expect me to believe that you actually care that she's dead! You don't! She narrowly escaped death once before after one of YOUR stupid torture sessions! You didn't know what it was like for me that night! She barely managed to push open the door and when she stumbled in, she was all broken and bleeding and looked so much worse than this!" He held Gemma's body up and the girl's head lolled to the side as Scott's eyes narrowed. But Flynn wasn't finished. "You wonder why she was missing that one week? She was in the room that we sometimes share, crying her eyes out and screaming in agony from the almost-fatal wounds that YOU gave her! It was lucky that our room is soundproof!" Flynn stopped to breathe for a moment.

"Scott?" Summer stared at him for a moment and shied away from Dillon. "Scott… how could you? She was my best friend?"

"I-" Scott glanced at Ziggy, silently asking him for backup, but the Green Ranger shook her head. "You told me you were just healing her," he murmured, "but now I know the real story. That night that Flynn described, I had quietly peeked into his room and saw them together. And he was right. Gemma was crying and screaming so much as she thrashed around in the bed. The sheets were red with her blood and Flynn was trying to hold her still as he dabbed a cloth on her head. The next morning, I asked him about it and he spilled everything." Ziggy glanced at Scott. "I trusted you, and so did the others. But in reality, you are a walking torture chamber!"

"You won't hurt her again," Flynn snarled. "You-"

"Well, of course not!" Scott rolled his eyes. "She's dead."

"Not in our hearts." Flynn's eyes blazed. "No. More. Grief." His voice tightened and his hands shook. He managed to stop it and wrapped his arms tightly around Gemma's body. "Come back to me, please," he whispered. Nothing happened; he'd never expected it to anyway. He pressed his hand on Gemma's neck, wincing as his hand was coated in blood spurting from the deep slashes on her neck.

Scott stood in his place, still as stone, his face portraying no emotion. All of a sudden, he raced away and slipped under the closing shield doors. Dr. K stared after him.

"I can't believe I ever trusted him," she murmured. "That was why… and she was bleeding… oh God…"

"We still have 5, maybe 4 Rangers," Dillon replied sullenly. "We will bring mass destruction to Venjix's army… and Tenaya is no longer my sister."

Summer gave a small cry and reached out and took Gemma's body from Flynn and Flynn made no move to stop her.

"She wasn't deleted from the biofield," Dr. K sighed. "That means we can't bring her back."

Summer's face paled. She quickly passed Gemma to Dillon, who looked as if the former Silver Ranger was no heavier than a safety pin, but he still handled his friend's body with great care. Summer looked around wildly and Dillon leaned down and gave Gemma a small kiss on her cold forehead. Gem sighed; it was well-known that Gemma and Dillon had been in love for quite a while before they had each fallen for Flynn and Summer.

Summer was now holding an abandoned sword in which she had found upon the ground. Whimpering, she stood up. Eventually, she dropped it on Dillon's command.

Dillon didn't notice anything. Gazing at Gemma, he sat down on the ground and laid her body across his lap. "She was my first love," he murmured softly. "Summer is my girlfriend now, but I never forgot how kind Gemma was to me." Then he fell silent.

Gem looked the most somber and had every right to be. The truth about Scott had shaken him to the core and every time he closed his eyes, even to blink, his mind was filled with the images of what the Red Ranger had done to his sister. Eventually, he closed his eyes again and held them closed; he wanted to see clearly what Scott had done to the Silver Ranger. Once again, the images filled his mind and he was plunged into a dark world until he seemed to be a ghost in the moment. He was standing in front of a wall and he could see the light figures of Scott and Gemma in front of him. He stood unblinking, still as a mouse.

"Scott, it's not my fault!" Gemma's voice echoed in Gem's head as she pleaded with Scott. "Just let me out of this room!"

"No." Scott's eyes were filled with a menacing look. "You betrayed me, little girl. And you will pay for it." He thrust out his fist and Gemma screamed as he broke one of her ribs. She moaned again and clutched her chest tightly. But Scott wasn't done. Gemma then received many blows to her head from the one who she had always thought of as a friend.

"Please, Scott! Stop!" Gemma's head was bleeding hard now and she screamed again as Scott kicked her in the chest again. Gem wanted to run in there, to help her fight off Scott, to stop the Red Ranger from hurting his sister any longer, but he knew this wasn't real. However, he had a feeling that it was the only thing Gemma would remember… wherever she was.

But Gem felt like he was trapped in a nightmare. He turned his attention back to the scene in front of him, watching in dismay as Scott mercilessly tortured his sister. Soon, Gemma lay torn, bleeding, and barely breathing on the ground. Gem wanted to run to her side, but the only time he moved was when Gemma began to slowly inch her way across the floor after Scott had left. Several times, she collapsed and for a moment lay panting, then pushed herself up again as she clenched her teeth together.

 _Oh Gemma,_ Gem thought. _If I had just been there when this had started, I would have stopped him. I could've helped._

Gem wanted to tear himself away from the images, but now, he couldn't. He had to get through it.

Gemma slowly crawled her way to where Flynn's room was, which was right next to this one, leaving trails of blood in her wake. With a great effort, she pushed open the door with one hand, then collapsed on the floor again. She couldn't move anymore; it hurt too much. "H- help me," he heard her whisper.

But then it seemed as if Flynn had heard her. He sat up in his bed and blinked a few times before noticing the bloody Gemma at the door.

"Gemma?" Flynn cried in disbelief. "Wh- what happened?" He zipped out of the bed and ran over to the Silver Ranger, then picked her up and carried her back to the bed.

"It- it hurts," she whimpered. "S- Scott w- was hurting me again."

Gem watched as Flynn's eyes narrowed.

"Oy, I need to have a talk with the lad," he snarled. "But first, we need to get you cleaned up." He went into his bathroom and came out again with a few rolls of gauze, a pack of wipes, and a few bandages.

As they lay in bed together, the sheets turning red, Gem couldn't help feeling guilty. _I could have protected my sister better,_ he thought gloomily. He forced himself to pull away from the vision and found himself back in the ruined battlefield. He blinked as he realized what had been going on. Summer was still crying, Ziggy, Dr. K, and Flynn were looking away from everything, and Dillon was still holding Gemma's body delicately in his arms. Gem went over to Dillon and sat down beside him, putting one of his arms around him. Flynn came over and did the same. None of them said anything. Gemma had been Flynn's actual girlfriend, Dillon's first love, and most importantly, Gem's sister, the only family the two had each ever known.

Now Gem felt utterly alone. He knew no other siblings, no other family, not even for probability. He had the Rangers, but most of them were still grieving for Gemma and Ziggy was still upset by Scott's betrayal. But they couldn't stay like this forever. He knew that soon, at one time or another, they would have to bury Gemma.

Dillon seemed to know that too. But no one wanted to let go. Gemma had been the sweetest and kindest member of the group. Summer, who was still sobbing her heart out, remembered the time that she was about to be executed by Venjix and Gemma had saved her. And today, the two girls had hoped to win a victory today against the Venjix army. And then… Summer shut her eyes tightly. It was her fault. If she had just fought harder, then Gemma wouldn't have needed to defend her- and Tenaya then went and snapped her neck. With Gemma dead, the whole truth about Scott had come out. Summer was sure that wherever Gemma's spirit was, that it would haunt the young spirit forever.

"Gemma," she called into the sky above. "I wish you had never left. You broke me when you did." Her eyes drifted back to the sword she had dropped before. Flynn looked back and his eyes widened. "Summer," he called. "Whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it."

Summer shook her head and slowly picked up the sword.

"Summer, we need you to help defend Corinth. We're already two Rangers down."

Summer looked at the sword, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Summer, don't even think about it." It was Dr. K. "Without you, the city is likely to fall to Venjix."

"But what is anything worth living for?" Summer wailed. "Gemma is dead, Scott has betrayed us, and Dillon is already almost completely taken over by the Venjix virus!" Her voice rose to a shriek. "It's all gone! There's nothing left!" The sword shook in her hand. "Corinth is going to fall to Venjix, no matter what."

"Summer, don't say that!" Dillon gasped. "The virus barely has any control over me right now. Don't hurt yourself over it."

Summer shook her head again and lifted up the sword. "We will fall to Venjix."

"Summer, stop! Put. Down. The. Sword." Flynn snapped. "I won't lose you too, I won't, and we will save Corinth."

"NO!" Summer screamed, slowly pointing the blade of the sword towards her chest. "I can't live with any of this anymore!"

"Summer, don't!" Dillon passed Gemma back to Gem and ran back over to his girlfriend, trying to wrestle the sword away from her. Summer glared at him. "I won't let you kill me when the Venjix virus takes you over!" she cried. "I'll die alone first!"

"SUMMER, YOU WILL NOT LEAVE US!" Dillon shouted at her. "We already lost Gemma and I will not lose you too!" He briefly looked back at Gem, who was still holding his sister's body with tears falling from his almond-shaped eyes. "Gem already lost his sister and look how he is now. Do you want to make him and all of us more like that if we also lose the only other female Ranger on the team? Not to mention that, I'd lose the only other girl I'd ever loved. Please don't do it. We need you. There **is** something to live for. It's the future of this Earth."

Summer's hand trembled and Dillon held his breath. Would she do as she wanted and kill herself? Or would she heed Dillon's advice and drop the suicide idea- and the sword? _Make the right choice,_ Dillon pleaded to her. _Don't doom the future of this planet._

Summer hesitated before she sliced a large gash in her arm and dropped the sword by her feet. Dillon sighed. At least she hadn't killed herself, but hurting herself wasn't helping in the least. Dillon knew, in his heart, that Summer was grieving in her own way for the dead Silver Ranger. _Gemma._ His throat tightened. They still needed to defend Corinth, but no one wanted to accept the fact that one of the Rangers had been killed and that the death had been helped along by the leader of the team. Dillon looked back at Gem once again. He knew that the Gold Ranger wouldn't want to keep fighting. He must know that his sister wouldn't want him to die the way she did, Dillon reflected, or he would have moved on already.

A shocking thought struck Dillon. Who would lead the team to victory against Venjix? Summer and Gem were no longer willing to fight, Flynn was grieving for Gemma more than ever, Dr. K didn't like Ziggy that much, and he himself was partly infected by the Venjix virus.

His heart raced. _Gemma is dead._ Would any of them be able to escape that thought? Or move on from it? It had brought so much pain and grief, so many memories. He couldn't see the future anymore.

Meanwhile, Gem was lost in thoughts about his sister. He wanted to be able to connect to her spirit, to relieve her of the bad memories. He shivered. The last emotional thing she had experienced, good or bad, was when Scott had almost killed her deliberately. Not caring about how much pain she was in, he had made it so that it would be the only thing she'd remember.

Suddenly, he stiffened as he saw a misty white fog wreathing around him. _What in the name of-?_ He stood up and looked around. The fog had formed a small line and was circling him at chest level.

A voice whispered on his ear, but he couldn't distinguish the familiarity of it. "You'll be fine, Gem. But victory against Venjix should come soon."

"What?" Gem called out despite looking like an idiot to himself. He gently set Gemma's body on the ground, then straightened up again. "Who are you? _What_ are you?"

The misty fog stopped in front of him and bunched in front of him. It lingered there for a moment before stretching down and up. Then it disappeared and Gem gasped as he saw his sister materialize in front of him.

"Gemma! Oh sis!"

Gemma nodded before glancing at the duplicate version of herself laying motionless upon the ground. "I was allowed to visit for a short time," she murmured as the other Rangers noticed her.

"Gemma, is that you?" Dr. K gasped as she ran over to her and everyone began talking at once.

"How long are you here?" Flynn.  
"Not long, I'm guessing." Dillon.  
"Sometimes, I wish things like this could be real. Now I see they are. They truly are." Everyone was surprised at Ziggy's words. But it didn't last long.

Gem stepped up beside his sister. Gemma turned to face him, blinking frequently to stop tears from falling.

"I'm sorry," Gem murmured into her ear gently, stroking her hair as she leaned against her brother, finding comfort in his arms. "I should have protected you."

"Huh?" Gemma was confused. "You didn't need to. No one except Flynn knew about it."

"But I trusted Scott," Gem replied sadly. "I was wrong, though. You are my sister and we are both the only family we each have ever known. I was responsible for your protection. I never knew what was going on until it was too late. I'm sorry."

Gemma sighed. "It wouldn't have helped. Scott almost destroyed my soul once and nothing's preventing him from not trying again. I know he'll come back in the dome."

"But we'll protect you," Gem declared as his sister pulled away from him. "Or… your spirit anyway."

As if the words had caused it, a flash of red light skimmed across the ground and shot through Gemma with a hiss. The pale girl crumpled to the ground as the light stopped and assumed the shape of Scott. "Going somewhere?" he laughed.

Gem rushed forward with a snarl, but Gemma quickly recovered herself and held him back. "Stop," she murmured. "It's me he wants."

"Right you are, Silver," the former Red Ranger sneered. "You might be dead, but you have now returned and I will not stop until you have been wiped from the memory of everyone you care about!" With that, Scott sprang at her. She had no time to dodge or deflect his attack, but when his fist met with her head, she felt sparks explode around her. Scott took his advantage and quickly swept up the sword that had almost caused Summer's death, then thrust it at Gemma. Until now, Gem hadn't realized that his sister's return would allow her to breathe and feel pain again. He gasped as he heard the crack of bone breaking and the scent of blood sprayed into the air. Gem almost stopped breathing as he realized that if Gemma died now, now and again, her soul and spirit would be destroyed forever.

"Gemma!" Summer screamed, jolting Gem back to reality. The Silver Ranger was lying fearfully on the ground, blood oozing out of her leg and the bone in it jutting out of the back of her ankle.

"I have to go!" she wailed, her voice cracking. "I can't stay any longer!" Then she vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

Flynn turned on Scott. "What is the matter with you?"

"We were having a freakin' reunion!" Summer cried. "Why would you ruin it?"

Scott smiled. "I've always hated Gemma right from the start. Better yet, I can still pull her back to me. She will not be able to return to the spirit world to heal her spiritual self right now."

Silence reigned over the Rangers until the flash of white smoke reappeared again, bringing Gemma back to the same position as before, but unable to walk thanks to her broken ankle.

"Hey!" she snapped.

"Scott, this has to end!" Flynn yelled. "You can't keep hurting her!"

"Oh no?" Scott laughed again and quick as a wink, he grabbed Gemma's arms and quickly pinned them behind her back as he pulled her up from the ground. Gemma tried to escape his grip, but her injured leg wouldn't support her and she fell back with a cry of pain. "Let me go!" she screamed. Scott ignored her and as she desperately lashed out, Scott plunged the sword's blade into the girl's shoulder. It sunk deep into her flesh, splitting her shoulder bone, causing loud screams to echo from her throat.

"No! Stop!" Summer cried as she attacked her friend's captor from behind. He abruptly dropped Gemma as she punched him in the back multiple times. Gemma whimpered and then screamed out in agony as she landed awkwardly on her good leg and it twisted beneath her. Knowing that there was no escape from her enemy now that both broken legs prevented her from running, she lay helplessly on the ground.

Meanwhile, Scott had thrown Summer off of him and was advancing on her with a wild look in his eyes. But just as he loomed over her, he spotted a bunch of his father's men racing around the corner, with their leader Vasquez at the head. The Colonel ran beside her and they soon surrounded the Rangers with guns pointed at Scott.

But Scott was not fazed. He slowly picked up the sword again and all of a sudden, he thrust it at Summer, aiming for her chest.

"No!" A cry ripped through the air and it took everyone a moment to realize that it was Vasquez, who was racing toward the pair as fast as she could. Despite the group being surrounded, she was still pretty far away. Scott glared at her, but still kept his attack on his target. Vasquez repeated her call and instantly threw herself over Summer. By then, Scott had increased the speed of his attack, unable to stop. The dark silver blade plunged into Vasquez's back and she screamed in pain as her body tumbled off Summer's. Summer gasped in shock.

"Vasquez!" Dr. K had been silent for so long that the Rangers had almost forgotten she was there, but as her friend fell to the ground, she ran to her side.

"Vasquez, no!" Dr. K cried as she frantically tried to pull the sword out. The ground beneath her began to turn red.

"Summer, I'm sorry," Vasquez murmured as Dr. K turned her back over. "But I had to save you. You need to protect Corinth." With every breath, she seemed to be growing weaker. She coughed a few times, spitting up blood.

"No…" Summer murmured, sliding her hand under Vasquez, trying to stop the blood flowing from the wound. Vasquez reached up and grasped Summer's other hand.

"Please… protect… Corinth," she whispered, coughing up more blood. Summer drew back, shaking her head. "No!" she gasped. "We can't do that without you."

Vasquez looked up at her and the painful look in her eyes brought tears to Summer's. Summer bent down and placed her hand on Vasquez's chest, her breath catching in her throat when she felt her friend's heartbeat slowing down. Summer carefully gathered Vasquez into her arms and stood up, pressing both hands against her back in a last attempt to stem the bleeding.

"Don't… waste… your time," Vasquez rasped. "it won't help. I know I'm going to die."

"No, don't say that!" For the first time, Flynn spoke up. He had been caring for Gemma and had just realized that one of their dearest friends was dying. "You'll live, we just need to stop the bleeding and- "

"I am glad I was able to become friends with you guys." Vasquez was losing breath, her voice getting quieter with each word. "You were my family." The last word was no more than the slightest whisper. Then her head fell back and her eyes glazed over, now filling with the images of the horizon behind them before finally closing.

"Vasquez…" Dr. K put a hand on the woman's chest. Her heart was still beating, but very slowly. Then there were two more stuttering beats and… silence.

All the while, Scott had been standing next to them with a wide smirk on his face- until he was shot dead with three bullets by his own father, Colonel Mason Truman.

"Good riddance," Flynn scoffed.

The colonel rushed over and ripped Vasquez's body out of Summer's arms, looking down at her with a mixture of pain and anger etched on his face.

"Colonel, I'm so sorry," Summer sighed.

Truman lifted his gaze to Summer. "It's not your fault," he replied sadly. "Vasquez gave her life to save you because she knew you were worth saving."

"But she's dead now." Summer began to sob bitterly as she took Vasquez back. Yes, it had happened to Gemma too, but as a Power Ranger, she had been allowed to return temporarily. But Vasquez was just… gone. Gone forever. She had been Summer's closest non-Power-Ranger friend. Gemma was obviously her favorite on the team.

 _Gemma!_ Summer gulped as she realized that she had almost forgotten about the injured Silver Ranger. The shocking death of Vasquez had almost wiped her memory of anything else that had been happening that day. She passed Vasquez's body back to the colonel and went over to Gemma. The girl had stopped struggling and was laying flat on her back. One of her legs was bleeding where the bone was poking out of it and the other was also bleeding and laid at an awkward position. Her black hair was splayed out under her, shining with silver. She blinked as Summer leaned over her.

"Let… me… go…" she gasped out. "I will give the rest of my remaining life force to her. I will then have to stay in the spirit world forever, but Vasquez can come back."

Summer stared at her in astonishment. "No! At least only do part of it. I want to see you again."

Gemma sighed. "Fine. But just as a warning- she's going to be in a lot of pain when she comes back and it might cause a bit of trouble." With that, she disappeared. Summer glanced over at Gemma's actual lifeless body, her heart breaking all over again.

A cry from behind Summer distracted her momentarily. Flynn was now holding Vasquez's body, but as some life flowed back into her, her smiled a bit, then it faded. Summer crossed over to them and took Vasquez from Flynn. Soon, the dead girl- or so they thought now- began to stir. Her eyes slowly opened, looking straight at Summer. Then a short spasm of pain hit her and she let out small cries as Summer pressed her closer to her, relieved that her wound had been closed up. Summer quickly explained to everyone what had happened, secretly happy that no one responded back.

"Summer…" Vasquez's quiet voice made Summer look back at her. "Help… me. This hurts… really bad."

Summer sat down on a stable stone bench and laid Vasquez on her lap. She slowly took the ponytail out of her friend's hair and let it spread out beneath her head as Summer stroked it gently. "I know," she murmured in reply. "But it will happen. It's just an effect of narrowly being saved from death."

Vasquez fearfully gazed at her. "Then… can I come with you?"

Summer looked surprised. "What?"

"You heard me." Vasquez's hazel eyes flashed for a moment. "I'd like to live with you and help you against Venjix in any way I can."

Dr. K stepped up beside them. "Unfortunately," she said to Summer, "I have seen this before. Because she was brought back, she will always have something affecting her health that can prevent her from doing things like becoming a Power Ranger." She looked Summer squarely in the eye. "You will care for her." Summer nodded and pulled Vasquez closer to her. She whimpered and rested her head on Summer's chest, letting out another loud wail when a fresh spasm of pain hit her and she fought for breath as Summer caressed her gently.

"Calm down, Vasquez," she sighed. Then a strange thing happened. The world suddenly fell away, leaving Summer in darkness. Then other shapes moved before her and Summer felt aa sudden realization. _Am I… seeing into her thoughts?_ She felt as if she were flying through her memories- only a few were clearly shown. But those memories alarmed Summer when she saw them. In a few of them, she could see glimpses of Vasquez, with fearful glints in her eyes as Scott- _What?_ -leaned over her, his voice echoing in her ears as she heard him speak, as well as Vasquez.

 _"_ _But I never said anything to the Colonel!"_

 _"_ _You were about to. I can't let that happen. Not even a chance." He advanced on her, a dagger in one hand and a lance in the other._

 _"_ _No! Please don't!"_

A flash of white light temporarily blinded Summer and through it, she could hear Vasquez screaming in pain and the sound of tearing flesh. Just when Summer was about ready to leave the vision of memories, another vision popped up and she instantly realized that it was part of the other. Her heart froze when the memory unfolded and she noticed a figure on the ground of the darkened place. It looked like a female. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized who it was- the girl on the ground who was bleeding from wounds on her head, neck, and chest. It was Vasquez.

 _She was tortured by Scott too? How could I know nothing about this?_

Instinctively, she snatched her thoughts away from the vision, bringing her back to reality where she was still holding on to Vasquez, who blinked up at her fearfully, as if she knew what Summer had seen.

"You're fine. He's gone now. It's over," Summer reassured her, looking down at Scott's dead body. His glazed eyes were still open, staring straight at Vasquez, and his mouth was frozen in an evil sneer.

"It's not over," Vasquez murmured, small tears forming in her eyes. "It's not. He wanted Gemma dead and he succeeded. He wanted me dead too and he hates me far more than Gemma. He won't give up on me so easily." She took in a shaky breath. "And I know that inside of you, there's a part of you that doesn't care what happens to me."

Summer was silent. Before the two had met, Summer had thought that Vasquez was a big egomaniac. It turned out that she was pretty paranoid about everything, but there had actually been a part of her that still thought that.

"Vasquez…"

"I'm right, aren't I?" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "You don't care if I die. You wouldn't care if I was tortured or mutilated or anything!" She tried to struggle out of Summer's arms, but she was still weak and couldn't walk. She fell to the pavement again, letting out another loud wail as her head struck a large rock.

Summer stood in her place, the words flooding through her. Everyone else, even the Colonel and Dr. K, had left, thinking that Summer could handle Vasquez on her own. But Summer was frozen. She felt cursed when the words were said.

 _You don't care if I die. You don't care. You don't care._

Vasquez was scrabbling to get up, slipping in and out of consciousness. She was bleeding from the back of her head and her cries for help went unheard. As her body thrashed around, the wound in her head became worse. Blood spread along the ground in a merciless red wave. Her small cries rose to shrieks of agony.

"Summer, please help me!" she sobbed. "Please don't let me die!" Vasquez felt the blood wave lap at her side. "Summer, please!"

As if she had been resurrected, Summer's head snapped up and she raced over to Vasquez.

"Please, Summer, don't let me bleed to death. That wouldn't be like you for anyone."

"I know." But Summer made no move to help Vasquez.

"Summer, do you really think Dillon would have wanted you to do this?" she pleaded. _I don't want to die._

Suddenly, as if hearing his name had summoned him, Dillon came running around the corner and stopped in front of the pair. His gaze shifted to Summer, then to Vasquez, and back to Summer with a look of horror stretching across his face. "You want to kill her…?" Then rage replaced horror. "I never knew you were like this." He hurriedly picked up Vasquez, grimacing when blood dripped onto his hands from her wound.

"We found out that we don't trust each other." Summer's voice cracked as she spoke.

"And that gives you the right to let her lay there, injured and bleeding?" Dillon snapped. "No wonder she doesn't trust you!"

Summer's face contorted with rage. "It wasn't what I expected to hear from her! We were always friends!"

"Well, if you want to act like a friend, go get some freakin' medicines!"

Summer stood where she was, still as stone, then took off, leaving the injured Vasquez and Dillon alone together. Dillon propped up Vasquez on his knee as he knelt down and placed both hands on the back of Vasquez's head, trying to stop the blood that flowed from the wound like a river. Vasquez fearfully stared up at him with bright yellow eyes.

 _Yellow?_ Dillon did a double take. Vasquez had hazel eyes; how had they suddenly turned yellow? Then he knew.

 _It can't be! She has the Latarian Infection!_ The Latarian Infection was a disease that had been discovered almost right after Venjix had taken over all of the world except Corinth. It was not contagious, but it was caused by a temporary loss of Silver Blood, which was injected into everyone who worked to program the shields of Corinth. It was also very hard to tell when Silver Blood was lost, as it looked almost like regular blood. The Latarian Infection's main effect was a chest infection and often fits of temporary loss of breath. Dillon held his breath. Where was Summer?

Soon, Summer returned, bringing the medicines that would usually close up a wound right away. When Dillon applied them to Vasquez, that was what happened, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. But there was still a huge problem.

"Summer?" His voice shook.

"Yeah?"

"Look into her eyes."

Reluctantly, Summer closely peered into one of the other girl's eyes. When she looked back up, she was shuddering.

"She has it?"

"Yes. The Latarian Infection."

Vasquez cried out in pain as the chest infection began to take hold of her. Her body rocked from side to side and both of her hands flew to her chest, pressing them against it. Her yellow eye widened as she gasped for breath.

"Vasquez!" Dillon exclaimed as he quickly stood up and raced off toward Dr. K's lab as he carried her, with Summer right at his heels, neatly keeping pace with him while she whispered encouraging words to Vasquez, urging her to hold on and the pain would temporarily be over soon.

Soon, they got back to the garage. When they rushed in, all of the others turned to look at them.

"What- what happened to her?" Flynn questioned impatiently.

"Get Dr. K," he answered firmly. Flynn ran off.

"Spill," Ziggy snapped. He and Vasquez liked each other, Dillon reflected as Vasquez reached out aimlessly, and they still do. Dillon didn't know how to tell Ziggy that his girlfriend had the most deadly infection that had ever hit Corinth. So he mumbled the words, "Latarian Infection."

"WHAT?!" Ziggy's outburst was so sudden that Dillon almost dropped the yellow-eyed Vasquez, who let out a whimper as she was shaken. "How did that happen?"

"She lost Silver Blood when she cut her head on a rock," Summer explained. Vasquez moaned, trying to gain her breath back while trying to reach out for Ziggy. Ziggy gently took her hand in his, slightly shivering.

"Ziggy?" Vasquez's voice was hardly more than a slight whisper.

"Vasquez, it's me," Ziggy murmured. "Are you alright?"

"You know I'm not," she sighed. "But I'm glad you're here. I don't want- AAH!" A spasm of agony in her chest again seized Vasquez and she cried out in pain as she almost fell out of Dillon's arms. Dillon looked at Ziggy, silently pleading with him. Ziggy nodded and slowly took his girlfriend from him. At that moment, Dr. K returned.

"This is serious," she told Ziggy. "She lost almost all of her Silver Blood from what I can tell and these agonies that she's getting are getting worse. With that, the period where she can't breather will grow longer. Eventually, she could die."

"Is there a cure? Where is it?"

Dr. K stared at him blankly. "Unfortunately, a cure has not been found yet. The few people who had it when it was discovered all died except one man. The infection simply had melted away from him."

Ziggy gasped, holding Vasquez as close to him as he could. "There's no cure? That means she's… going to die?"

Dr. K shrugged. "There's a slim possibility that she could live."

Then Ziggy snapped. "Slim?!" he shouted at her. "I want it to be certain! I don't want the only person who cares about me to die!" Dr. K quirked an eyebrow at him, but he didn't notice.

"Ziggy…" Summer started, but then trailed off. No one could calm Ziggy when he was in this state. Ziggy shot a dangerous glare in Summer's direction before running away in the direction of his room, taking Vasquez with him.

Summer shook her head sadly. "He doesn't know, does he?"

"What doesn't he know?" Flynn asked.

Dr. K answered for Summer, "Ziggy doesn't know how worse it will get."

Meanwhile, Ziggy entered his room and flipped on the light switch, then crossed over to his bed and pulled off the sheets. Then he lay Vasquez down on the bed, resting her head on a green pillow.

"I won't let you die," he vowed. "I'd willingly die for you if I needed to." He then pulled the sheets over her before getting in bed. He put her long brown hair back into a braid and lay down beside her.

"Ziggy… help me..." she whispered. "I can't- NO!" Vasquez screamed out in agony, terror lighting up her yellow eyes as she temporarily lost the ability to breathe. "It's happening again!"

"Vasquez!" Ziggy gasped as he lifted her into his arms. He felt helpless. Soon, she would die from this.

Then Gem entered the room and sat down by Ziggy and Vasquez on the bed. "I know how you feel."

Ziggy glared at him. "No, you don't. You've never lost someone like this."

"Oh, really?" Gem shot back. "I just lost my sister, the only family I ever had. Thanks to Scott, she was suffering so much and she's the only reason Vasquez is still alive." Ziggy looked down at his girlfriend in surprise as Gem took a breath then continued shouting at him.

"Gemma was my whole life! She was my sister! You have no idea how much she meant to me." Gem reached into his pocket and pulled out a few things, which Ziggy soon saw as pictures as Gem began looking through them. One of the pictures looked as if it had been taken in a hospital and it was. Ziggy looked at it closer and saw Gemma in it. She was laying in one of the white hospital beds, her brown eyes flashing as they fearfully looked up at her brother, who was leaning over her. Many transparent tubes were attached to Gemma's body and Gem looked very scared.

Gem noticed Ziggy looking over his shoulder. "I almost lost her that day."

"What happened to her?" Ziggy asked.

"She had salmonella in her system. When I found out, I took her to the hospital and they said that there was a very small possibility she could survive. But she did, thanks to this special type of medicine."

"Indeed, I did."

"Gemma?" Gem gasped as he saw his sister's pale form materialize in front of him.

"It is me. But Ziggy…" Ziggy looked up, then cried out in surprise as he saw another spirit walking towards Gemma's.

 _Vasquez!_

"What?" Ziggy glanced at the bed. His girlfriend lay motionless. "NO!"

Gemma bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Ziggy."

"Wait!" Vasquez called. She urgently whispered in Gemma's ear.

"What?" Gemma shrank back in horror. "I can't replace you!"

"It's the only way."

The ominous tone in Vasquez's voice told Gemma that she needed to listen to her.

"No! Vasquez, don't leave me!" Ziggy cried.

Vasquez looked back at him with sad eyes, then disappeared. Gemma slowly walked over to Vasquez's lifeless body and touched her forehead. Then, to Gem's astonishment, her spirit flowed into her body. Soon, her body blurred, and Vasquez's features changed into Gemma's. Ziggy felt his heart ache as Gem hugged his sister.

"Gemma, you're back!" Gem swept his sister's body into his arms and she giggled as he gave her a small kiss on the cheek. She pressed her head against his chest and looked up at him with large silver eyes.

 _Silver?_

Gem looked at her fearfully. _What kind of sickness do_ _ **you**_ _have? I can't lose you for a third time!_

"I don't know what it is," Gemma sighed. "I realized I got it when I came back and it stayed with me." She drew in a shaky breath. "Just take me to Dr. K."

Gem sighed. "I can't lose you again!"

Gemma gripped his arm. "Just please do it."

"Fine." Then he ran to Dr. K's lab.

"Dr. K!" he called. The scientist looked up from the computer with an annoyed expression, softening as she spotted Gemma.

"You're back!" Then her face fell once again. "But that means that Vasquez must be…"

"She's dead," Gem murmured.

Dr. K was silent for a moment, then looked up again, "And what do you two need?"

"We-" Gem never got to finish his sentence. As if she had been hit by an invisible club, Gem snapped her head back suddenly. Gem was so surprised at that strange movement that he accidentally loosened his grip. As his sister jerked again, she fell to the floor, clenching her teeth together.

"Is she sick too?" Dr. K asked.

"I don't know," Gem replied, helping Gemma up. "All I saw was silver eyes and- "

"Silver?" Dr. K gasped.

"What's so bad about that?" Gem tipped his head to one side as Gemma collapsed into his arms, breathing heavily.

"Tarian," Dr. K whispered, naming the most deadly disease in the dome, even more deadly than the Latarian Infection. "It rarely comes, but it has now. In a few minutes, the symptoms will start showing up clearer."

"Wh- what are they?" Gem stammered nervously.

A great deal of fear began to show in Dr. K's eyes. "Sometimes they vary. The most common are temporary loss of breath and/or heartbeat, seizures, random agony spasms, and the chest infection is still part of it. But in this case, it's worse. We need to take her to the hospital. If the infection pain hits her, they most likely might have to tie her down with shackles."

Gem's eyes stretched wide. No wonder it was so deadly! When he and Gemma had been imprisoned in the Venjix factory, most of the regular humans and a few hybrids had mysteriously caught Tarian and died. The others had been fine. But now Gemma…

A loud scream from Gemma cut him off from hid daydream. Gem looked down in surprise and tightened his grip on his sister as she began to move around, letting out high-pitched screams.

"What's going on?" Flynn grumbled as he peered into the room, gaping when he saw Gemma. Then in a flash, he realized what was happening.

"Gemma, no!" Flynn cried, running to her side. Gem instinctively pulled away, like Summer had once did. "I'm not taking any chances."

"But she has Tarian!" Flynn snapped.

"No one is taking my sister from me again!"

"Guys!" Dr. K butted in. "Our main priority is getting her to a hospital now, so get in a car!"

"We'll go in mine," Flynn said immediately. Gem followed him over to his Jeep and placed in sister in the backseat. Gemma moaned and rolled over onto her back, eyes closed and groping at nothing. Flynn and Gem got in and Flynn began driving. The hospital was on the other side of the dome, which was 35 minutes away, so they had a long way to go.

But then they got to the red light. They all sat, waiting, when a black car came rushing uncontrollably around the corner. Flynn and Gem got out and closed the doors, intending to grab their sick girlfriend/sister out of the back and run, but they were too late. The black car hit the blue Jeep head-on. Gem and Flynn went flying and hit the ground hard. Luckily, neither of them were hurt. They gasped as they looked back at the crash. A man with dark brown hair was running away from the scene and Flynn glared after him, seeing that he had been the driver of the black car. Flynn's Jeep had been overturned and was partly on fire, metal and broken glass surrounding it.

"GEMMA!" Gem shouted. He rushed over to the crash and started searching the car for his sister.

"What happened? Is someone in there?" a voice called behind him. Gem turned around. It was Corporal Hicks.

"Gemma's stuck in there?" Gem exclaimed tearfully. "She has Tarian too; we were trying to get to the hospital."

"Tarian? A crash _too_? Oh no." Corporal Hicks radioed his walkie-talkie. "Colonel? I need a hospital crew here **_quick_**. We had a car crash in Sector 12-B with Gem, Gemma, Flynn, and the unknown driver of a black sedan. No noticeable injuries on Gem and Flynn. Gemma is still in the car. She has Tarian too, she needs help. Ten-Four, over."

In the next few minutes, Gem, Flynn, and Corporal Hicks tried valiantly to rip apart the car to find Gem's sister, but it was no use.

Just then, an ambulance came roaring around the corner, its siren wailing.

"Stop!" Gem frantically waved his arms in the air. "Over here!"

As the ambulance stopped, about 9 paramedics got out.

"Help us!" Flynn was struggling with the car again. "She's still in there!"

6 of the paramedics broke off from the group and headed toward them.

"We'll take it from here," said a blond woman.

"I assure you, we'll get her out," added a woman that looked a lot like Vasquez.

Flynn and Gem stepped back and the paramedics took their place. Using all of their strength, they lifted one of the car doors off the burnt car, revealing a messy and crushed inside and- Gemma.

"We found her!" "Get her out!" "Be careful, she's injured!"

"Oh no," Gem murmured as the paramedics lifted his sister's body out of the broken-down Jeep. Gemma also looked broken. Her clothes were torn and her body was crisscrossed with many heavily bleeding cuts and gashes. Chunks of glass and metal stuck out of her skin on her arms, chest, and face. Her black hair, once beautiful and shiny, was stained with blood. The other three paramedics went back in the ambulance and got a stretcher. They brought it back to the others and the other paramedics lay Gemma gently on it. Gem pressed a hand against his chest as he followed them and got into the ambulance with them. Flynn stared sadly after him.

"You her brother?" a paramedic man with an English accent asked.

Gem nodded.

"Did you know that she has Tarian?"

"Yes."

"There is a small chance she might not survive this."

"It's a small chance, right?"

No response.

"Oh, Gemma," Gem sighed as the paramedics lifted her up on to a movable hospital bed. He stretched out one hand and rested it on her bleeding chest.

"That her name? Gemma?" the paramedic asked again.

"Yes."

"What's your last name?"

Gem stared blankly at him. "Neither of us have one."

"How do we know who your family is then?"

"We have no family," Gem replied sadly. "Gemma and I only have each other." He looked back at her. "She's nearly died three times before, I can't lose her now." He moved his hand from her chest to her cut hand, grasping it gently and squeezing it.

Suddenly, Gemma's silver eyes opened. Her gaze flitted towards Gem and slowly returned the squeeze, a tiny smile appearing on her bruised face. Then she spoke in a tiny voice, so small that Gem had to lean in to listen.

"Gem, I love you. That's all that matters right now and I want you by my side during this ordeal." Then her eyes closed once again.

"Gemma!" Gem shook her hand a bit. She didn't wake up again. He sighed, feeling helpless. His sister was sick and dying and the disease she was infected with had no known cure and no cause.

The paramedics hooked up a few electrodes to Gemma's chest while taking off what was left of her torn and burnt clothes. Gem felt a sharp pain in his heart as they opened Gemma's mouth and forced a breathing tube down her throat. As they hooked up a few more tubes and injected a few needles into her body, Gemma's eyes opened again, her silver pupils growing bigger as she realized what was happening to her. She looked at Gem again and Gem could hear his sister's pleas in his mind as clearly as if they had been shouted out loud. _What's happening to me? What are they doing to me? Am I going to die again? I don't want to die!_ Tears were streaming down Gemma's face as her arms were pinned to her sides and strapped down. _What's wrong with me?_

"What are you doing to her?" Gem burst out before he could stop himself. Another female paramedic, one with dark ebony hair and pale skin, placed a hand comfortingly on Gem's shoulder. "We have to do this. Most of her vital organs were damaged in the crash and there's been a lot of internal bleeding. The Tarian has also made it worse. She can barely breathe."

Gem watched, feeling sick, as the paramedics used tweezers to remove the last remains of glass and metal embedded in Gemma's skin. More tears ran down her face and she seemed to want to scream, but all that came out was a heavy burst of breath through the breathing tube, which was soon removed from her throat and replaced by an oxygen mask. By then, they had arrived at the hospital. Gem held his sister's hand as she was taken in by a few doctors and nurses. When they got to the room, one of the nurses turned to Gem.

"You need to leave," she said firmly.

Gem shook his head. "She needs me."

"What she's going to need is a lot worse than what she's going through now. I'd hate for you to see her suffer like this."

Gem shook his head again. "She wants me here."

"If you insist. But I need to warn you; it's going to hurt her a lot." She stepped aside and let Gem enter the room.

One of the doctors went and got a large syringe out of a drawer and filled it with a purple liquid as Gemma was laid on the new bed. Then he approached Gemma with it. Her eyes widened again and looked pleadingly at her brother. Then the doctor jammed the syringe into her arm. Gemma didn't respond as the liquid was pumped into her. When it was taken out, she tried to move, desperately trying to get to her brother, while the doctors and paramedics restrained her.

"Get used to it!" snapped the paramedic that looked like Vasquez. "She has Tarian, this will keep happening!"

Once they had stabilized Gemma and left her sleeping, the same person turned to Gem.

"I am Veronica. Do you know my sister, Vasquez? She works with the dome shields."

Gem felt his skin prickling. "Yes."

"How is she?"

Gem turned away. "She's dead," he murmured.

"What? How?"

"She got hurt and then caught the Latarian Infection. We tried to save her, but before she died, she asked for Gemma's spirit to replace her so she could live. But then she caught Tarian."

"So Vasquez died so Gemma could live?" Veronica gasped. "Then we have to save her! If Gemma dies, my sister's sacrifice would have been in vain and I would never forgive myself if that happened."

"She nearly died twice before; I can't lose her again," Gem sighed.

Veronica put a comforting arm around Gem. "I promise and vow that I will do my best to try and save her. But it won't be easy," she added quickly. "It looks like she might need surgery and we don't know how much the Tarian will ravage her. We can only wait. But right now, you need to leave. I will stay with her day and night 24/7 and I will pray that Vasquez's spirit will aid me too."

"Thank you," Gem said gratefully. He sadly exited the room after casting a mournful glance back at Gemma. Her eyes were still wet with tears as he left the hospital and began to walk back to the garage.

On the way, he spotted the guy he now hated- the dark-haired driver of the black sedan walking into an alley. Filled with rage, Gem followed him and tackled him in the alley.

"Hey!" the man snapped. "What's the big idea?"

"You were the one who crashed into us!" Gem snarled.

"Yeah, I did! So what?"

A red haze filled Gem's vision as he placed his hand on the man's neck. "Because of you-"

"What did I do?" The man's dark eyes flashed.

"Because of you, my sister is now bleeding, sick, and practically dying in a hospital bed!" Gem roared. "Before that, she was sick with Tarian and you made it worse!"

"This was planned WAY before he died. He ordered me to do it."

"Who?"

The man hesitated.

"I'll tear your throat out if you don't tell me who arranged to kill my sister!"

The man's eyes narrowed. "Fine. It was arranged by Scott Truman. But he's dead now. Killed by his own father."

"WHAT?!" Gem yelled. "YOU WERE DOING THIS FOR SCOTT?!"

"Once I knew he had died, I had to do this for him. But-"

"No buts!" Gem growled. "You were working for my sister's sworn enemy! You deserve to die!" He wrapped both hands around his neck.

"Go ahead!" the man spluttered angrily. "The girl got what she deserved and she will die! All of you will suffer!" Then Gem broke his neck. He lay there, lifeless, menacing eyes glaring up at Gem. _He got what he deserved._

But by now, Gem knew that he couldn't go home. He couldn't return until he knew that Gemma was going to survive. He turned and headed back to the hospital where he knew his sister's room was, Room 211. The windows were open and he looked inside. The sight of his broken and sick sister made his heart break. He quietly entered the room and Gemma immediately woke up.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, kneeling down beside her bed.

Gemma quickly pawed off the oxygen mask and sat up, wincing at the effort. Her voice cracked a lot as she answered him. "Not good. It's agony when I move, I don't want to eat, though they've offered me almost anything, and I don't like the Tarian injections."

"You're not eating?!" Gem gasped in horror.

"I'm not worth it," Gemma sighed, laying back again slowly. "I just wish they would let me die again."

"Veronica would never let that happen," Gem replied immediately.

"Veronica? Who's that?"

"She's one of the paramedics who brought you here. She's Vasquez's twin sister and when I told her that Vasquez had sacrificed herself for you, he vowed to do her best to save you."

Silence.

Then Gemma cried out in pain, her arms straining against the straps that held her down. Somehow, Gem realized what was happening. Organ failure! That was the final effect of the Tarian, the death cause unknown to most others. Gemma coughed a few times, spewing up blood, her silver eyes widening in terror as her face and chest were coated in red. There was a way to rectify the situation, but it would require a great deal of surgery and medicine. Until then, it would continue to happen.

"Gemma, just hold on!" Gem wanted to run and get a doctor, but just the same, he didn't want to leave Gemma. And where was Veronica?

"What's happening?" she cried, tears running down her cheeks again.

"What's going on?" Veronica called, rushing into the room. The instant she saw Gemma, she knew something was wrong.

"All available paramedics, please come to Room 211!"

Then Veronica asked him once again to leave.

"Are you kidding me?" Gem spat angrily, taking hold of his sister's hand. "I'm not leaving this place until I know what's going to happen to her."

"She needs surgery," Veronica replied indignantly. "And I know that the last thing you want is to see her suffer!"

"I don't care!" Gem argued back. "I'm not afraid of anything except losing her."

"But she-"

"I don't want to lose her. That's the only thing I'm afraid of in life. She had surgery once when we were in the Alphabet Soup compound and I was by her side the whole time."

"Fine. But stay silent if you want her to stay alive."

Gem nodded and stepped away, letting go of his sister's hand.

He did not see the actual surgery happening. But it was comforting to know that they were trying to save her. When at last he knew it was over, he opened his eyes.

"It went okay," said Veronica, who was standing right in front of him. "But the anesthetic wore off at the last few minutes and is now experiencing some kind of burning pain in her chest." Gemma was whimpering and sobbing behind her. "But she's still in bad shape. We still don't know if she'll survive or not. The surgery was just supposed to help her organs start working again."

"I'm not leaving until I know she'll be okay!" Gem pushed Veronica aside and ran over to his sister, gently touching her face, which was now cleansed of blood. Gemma opened her eyes slowly.

"It- it hurts," she wailed. "It's burning…"

"Shh. Save your breath."

"I- I can't. H- hurts too much." Gemma tried to bring a hand to her chest, but both of her arms were still strapped down. Gem put a hand on his sister's chest and lightly pressed on it. Gemma cried out and Gem quickly withdrew his hand, then reached it out again to stroke her hair. Just then, someone came up and laid a small tray of food on the stool next to Gem. It consisted of peas, small chunks of steak, and some red grapes. Gemma shook her head. "No."

"Gemma, you have to eat!"

"I don't want to!"

"Gemma, please." Gem picked up a small grape from the tray and tried to force it into her mouth.

Gemma turned her head away. "Stop!"

"Gemma, listen. I told Veronica that I'm not afraid of anything except one thing."

Gemma was surprised. "What's that?"

"Losing you."

Gemma blinked, then allowed her brother to feed her the grape, a few pieces of steak, and some peas. When she finished the last peas, she lay back with a sigh.

"Can you… turn on the TV?"

Gem fetched the remote and turned the TV to Disney Channel, which the two siblings loved to watch whenever they felt distressed. As they two watched a _K.C. Undercover_ episode, Gem noticed that something seemed different about Gemma. Apart from the silver eyes, she felt cold and she seemed to have some white strings on her face.

"What the-" He reached out to touch them. "Are these… whiskers?"

Gemma stared at him fearfully, then sighed. "When we were captured by Venjix, I got taken and I had something injected into my heart. Whenever I would contract a disease or anything, I would began turning into a cat; I'd shrink, grow a tail, ears, fur- the whole deal."

Gem gasped. "What? Could we fix it?"

Gemma gave a dry laugh. "I'd need a heart transplant. But if they messed up even the tiniest bit, I would turn into a cat forever. The only good news is that once the transformation is complete, I'd be immortal."

"I'm already immortal."

"Just let it happen."

"But what if you die before it?"

"I'm hoping that won't happen."

"Gemma-"

"You can't help me. I don't want anyone to."

"Gemma, listen to me!" Gem urged. "Like she almost did for Summer, Vasquez gave up her life to save you because she knew you were worth saving. And Veronica is still here, trying to make sure that her sister's sacrifice wasn't in vain. Even if you become a cat, we will care for you. I will always care for you."

"I don't deserve it. I almost got all of us killed once, remember?"

Briefly, he recalled the event. Without thinking, Gemma had deflected a large bomb thrown toward her, but sent it straight towards the other Rangers. Summer and Gem were almost killed and the others were severely injured.

"Yes, you did. But we learn from our mistakes. Let them help you." He bent down and gave his sister a small kiss. Her lips met his and Gem felt fire rush through him. Was it helping her that made him feel this way? Or was it that he was just-? No, he couldn't explain it. He felt as if the kiss was awakening something in his heart, something that could only be accessed by someone like Gemma.

Pure love. **_Pure._**

Yes, that was it.

Gem deepened the kiss and he could feel his sister's shock and excitement rolling off her as he gently pulled away. He stared at her, a mixture of love and fear in his eyes.

"Don't give up, Gemma." Then he left.

When he returned the next day though, Gemma seemed to have given up again. This time, he could see the tips of cat ears poking through her hair and stripes of white fur had begun forming on her arms. She glanced at him fearfully and he realized that her eyes were also getting narrower.

"Help me," she called. "Dr. K is the only one who can help me; she just discovered a possible way to reverse Tarian quickly and completely stop the cat transformation. Flynn came in and told me. I gotta get out of here."

"But you're still recovering from the crash," Gem protested. "I can't take the risk."

"I will. Get me out please!" Her voice shook.

"I won't let you die before you're healed!" Gem snapped. "You're my own sister, I'm not about to kill you!"

"Then leave."

"No, I… I'll get you out. Let me find Veronica first."

Gemma watched her brother leave the room and felt a stab of pain rush through her. She didn't want to die again either or transform forever, but what choice did she have?

"Someone get me out of here!" she wailed aloud. She slammed her hand down on the remote under it, switching off the TV and dislodging one of the tubes from her arm. A few drops of blood dripped onto the smooth white sheet.

Just then, Gem came back into the room, followed closely by Veronica.

"I spoke to the others," Veronica told Gemma, "and they agreed that as long as you take this medication twice a day…" She held up a large bottle of white pills. "…to help your breathing, then you should be fine, and any further surgery may go smoothly." At Gemma's surprised face, she added, "You're not completely stabilized yet and any exertion- seeing as you two are the Silver and Gold Rangers- could stop or slow down your breathing." She stepped over to her and detached the other tubes in her body. Gemma moaned.

"Just hang in there," Gem murmured to her as he lifted her out of the bed, holding her tenderly. "You'll be out soon, sis. Come on. Don't give in now." _Don't die, Gemma._

He felt cold as he realized one of the real reasons he wanted Gemma to stay. It was all because of Scott. He was dead, but now he was lurking with spirits, waiting for the moment when Gemma would join him. Then he would erase her from history. Gem shivered as he thought of Vasquez.

He shook the thought away. His main priority was to protect his sister. _I_ _ **will**_ _protect you,_ he vowed silently.

Veronica beckoned to him and he slipped silently out of the room to follow her.

Suddenly, she stopped, clapping a hand to her forehead. "I forgot. I need to grab the other bottle of medication for your- Gemma from my small room." At Gem's surprised face, she added, "I live here. I have nowhere else to go. When Venjix came, Vasquez and I-" Her voice broke off and she shook her head. "Go sit down and I will tell you when I get back."

 ** _Later…_**

When Veronica finally got back, a small bottle clutched in her pale hand, she looked troubled and she didn't say a word as she slowly led Gem out the door. "We'll go in my car," she finally said.

But as Gem strapped his sister into the backseat and got in the front, he began to suspect that something was wrong with Veronica.

"What happened with you and Vasquez?" The question burst out of him before he could stop it.

Veronica sighed. "When Vasquez was young, she and I had many jokes about viruses since neither of our computers ever had one. But then she got infected by the Venjix virus when she turned eighteen and our world was torn apart." A tear trickled down her face. "The virus grew on her too quickly and Venjix was able to control her. The last time I saw her was then, before I was taken away." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter now." She pushed on the gas and soon, they arrived back at Dr. K's garage. Gem gently carried his sister out of the car.

"Gemma!" Dr. K had been waiting for them.

 ** _The next day…_**

The cat-transformation antidote had worked. Gemma was completely human once again.

"I'm so glad you're back," Veronica sighed, holding Gemma's hand. Gem nodded, unable to speak in his happiness.

But nothing was okay. Gemma couldn't live with the knowledge that she had brought about the death and departure of Vasquez, and stabbed and killed herself a few days later, unwilling to return again.

Knowing that her sister's sacrifice had now been in vain, Veronica escaped into the wasteland outside the city. Summer discovered her dead body 42 miles from the city a week later. Overcome with grief for Gemma, Veronica, and Vasquez, she brought her back to Corinth, then took her own life in secret. This launched the Rangers' grief beyond anything they could imagine. After their funerals, Dr. K upgraded the remaining Rangers' suits. After all the losses of her friends lately, she felt that it was all she could do. Six days later, with all the combined powers of the Gold, Green, Blue, and Black Rangers, Venjix was defeated and Tenaya was destroyed.

Gem never forgot about his sister and Flynn never stopped loving her. Neither did Dillon.

The memories of Gemma, Summer, Vasquez, and Veronica would live on forever.


End file.
